Posts Tagged ‘Inter Milan’

Fortune, good luck and knife-edge decisions are as much of a decider in the outcome of games as any tactical or technical ability. To start with everyone is praising the tactical genius of Mourinho and yes Inter defended extremely well considering they were away to a free scoring Barca and a man down for 60 minutes blah blah blah, but as I’m sure the always modest Jose will tell you himself luck had just as big a part to play in Inter’s aggregate Champions League Semi win as any managerial genius. There’s not many things I detest more than show offs and attention seekers. Well Mourinho is not only both of them but his arrogance post beating Barca is very much misplaced .

Barca’s 1-0 2nd leg win would have been enough if either of these 3 key decisions were to have rightfully gone Barca’s way, it should be Barca in the final right now.

Milito’s definite offside goal in the 1st leg

Bojan’s missed point-blank header unmarked from a few yards out in the 2nd leg

The wrongly awarded hand-ball decision against Toure just prior to Bojan’s clear goal in the 2nd leg, it was either not handball, or ball to hand as the Inter defender smashed it at him from a yard away and Toure’s hand was in a very natural position, tucked into his chest.

Mourinho is a very adept manager but Inter are so much better equipped than the rest of Serie A that there is no skill or merit in winning Italian league titles with them and lets not exaggerate things he got VERY lucky to beat Barca and has a very average overall Champions League record after his win with Porto in 2004.

Mourinho’s obviously more tactically astute than most, but you have to ask yourself whether it’s a good advert for football when these defensive tactics (with literally no desire at all to attack) overcome the expansive football of Barca, albeit with a large dose of luck.

Some of the more recent examples I can remember of luck playing a pivotal role within The Champions League include:

Barca’s win away to Chelsea last season after the ref dismissed two clear-cut penalty claims

Terry slipping a fraction before his crucial decisive penalty v Man Utd in the final

Yes you want great players and managers at your club in-order to achieve but given the choice I’d rather be lucky than good and Morinho’s fortunate in the fact he seems to have both angles covered!